(btw, this is the real Chapter 6)

Um...yeah, so Chapter 5 is my most popular chapter, which is awesome, nearly 200 views compared to the usual 100 on the first day of the chapter release, it's kind of understandable. It was a big deal with lots of insanity going on and a bit of good ole Hiccstrid, so...yeah.

Anywho, I warned you to watch for everyone, this includes characters you don't expect, and not just for their presence. Pay attention, special attention, to characters who names (or nicknames) you recognize, as they are not as they seem. This short monologue was sparked off a great review that, and not to demean any of the other reviews, but I hugely appreciated it, I mean all the reviews have been awesome, but this specific one really got in my head in a good way. You should know who you are and you can probably spot it, but I'll keep it ambiguous for now.

Anyway, now that I've said that, let's get to reviews (even though I do personally respond to each one):

Silver Blue Eyed Wolf: Ha, this is about the point when the Hiccstrid relationship shown in the early to mid-shows starts up, none of the RTTE like relationships (not that it's much different), but it gets a tiny bit beyond platonic at times, but neither of them really know that. (What? I gotta embellish myself in Hiccstrid a little bit, right?) As for Astrid's abusive family problems, yeah, you won't see it, but Hiccup and Fishlegs are not blind anymore, those two are probably the best things to happen to her...soon enough. For now, nope, he is not happy, and yeah, I really liked it too.

Bluewarrior 2.0: Thanks, I love writing, as for Snotlout, I usually dislike it too (as I told you), but it isn't his fault wholly and he'll become less "evil" eventually. Trust me when I say he is way more 3D than you think. (But Astrid is still going to kick his ass XD) Also, the band will not stay a three piece forever, but there will not be a new permanent member for a good long while. And yeah, I'm loving this fanfic too, it's as much an adventure for you as it is for me. (I'm not really joking, not entirely, also if you like it so much, a fav or a follow may benefit you)

NatBlake: Well, technically, no, there is no (direct) romance ship yet (though that relationship is a bit more than platonic, neither know it yet :D) Also, let's just say, as I said before, Snot is a lot more complex than you think, and his motives aren't entirely his. It will eventually get resolved, and the twins will come in soon...trust me on that. And thanks

Commander Chandell 919: Um, alright then, I'm surprised to hear that, especially on not knowing Smells like Teen Spirit, though I guess it can happen, and if you liked them, might I recommend the entire grunge and post-grunge genres, like Soundgarden, Shinedown, Three Days Grace, Saint Asonia, and Foo Fighters (Dave Grohl, the drummer is the frontman) are some really good ones. And thanks very much.

Now that we've done that, here is chapter six...


Chapter 6: Stubborn Discoveries

Hiccup fell asleep, soon after entering the house, it was past eleven by the time he got in. He just wanted some sleep, his bird, knowing such, let him be. So he climbed up his stairs, half awake, barely holding his eyes open, running purely off of the idea of the kiss Astrid kind of forced on him. He didn't mind it but the spontaneous action both drained and invigorated him somehow.

Hiccup reached his room, got changed, and jumped into his bed beat the hell out, Toothless joining him moments later. He spent the next two hours restless, he wanted to fall asleep, but just couldn't, something unnerving was hanging over him. The restlessness, occasionally caused by phantom limb or missing his mother, was now caused by the thought of Astrid, and not just the kiss. She was being abused by her father, he wasn't exactly prepared the previous day for that fight to help Astrid, so he slept it off, they had a show to work on. Now they had no obligations, and the only thing he could think of was her, and even her mother, getting "punished" for being with him and Felix. He kept thinking of her unsettling mood when she thought on it. He just couldn't get her face out of his mind, and each time he thought of her, she looked more beat up. It was haunting him now.

After another hour of shifting around like a pig on a spit, he heard a crack from his window, he heard it twice more before he got up. He might as well as he couldn't sleep anyway he thought. As he opened it however, it revealed, while hard to see, Astrid was standing outside, her blond hair and pack flowing upon her back. She was wearing a sleep gown, and wasn't looking so great, and she had to have been walking for at the minimum of an hour.

"I'll let you in at the front." He told her.

Hiccup went downstairs without waking anyone, though that was easy, it was two in the morning and no one else was restless. He opened the door to the blond, obviously distressed, and bruised on her eye. Hiccup hadn't noticed the bruise in the dark before.

"Oh geez, Astrid, you alright...?" Hiccup realized what he said as soon as it left and retracted the statement. "Of course you wouldn't, why would you be here, ah...come in, what happened to you?"

He was pretty sure, but he wanted to calm and comfort his friend who has now run from home, and what was more caring then wondering what happened. Hiccup ran to the kitchen to get an ice pack, and came back concerned for Astrid as she sat on the couch.

"If you feel like sharing..." Astrid was now sobbing, nearly crying, and she was not feeling very strong for the moment. Hoffersons must be strong, perfect, the montra kept running in her head, and it was not giving her strength. Eventually she just broke down, and cried right into Hiccup's shoulder, continuing for half an hour before she finally spoke.

"He, he's..." She sobbed, unable to get out much more before choking on her own sadness. "Shhh, it's alright" He tried comforting, that usually worked in the movies. It definitely calmed her down. She now had the ability to speak, but it was not what Hiccup expected. "I'm so weak, I deserve to be hit." That disturbed Hiccup, it was so wrong to hear such a bad thing, it was like she was convincing herself that her pain was right. "No Astrid." He said firmly. "You do not deserve this," He pointed to her eye "Or any of that," He pointed randomly, insinuating her father. "You're not weak, you're stronger than you know, I mean do you think I'd last this long through something like that, or Felix, or anyone else, no Astrid, your hell makes you strong, not because you deserve it, nor should it happen, but just surviving it now and being you, it's something strong, and now you're not alone in any of the struggle. If you ever need anyone, I'm here, and I have no doubt Felix will too, he's starting to get good at seeing it too by the way." Hiccup's tone started getting lighter. "He's starting to notice your pain too, more than he did, don't forget about him too." He was at this point stroking her hair, calming her, it was odd to him, but not uncomfortable.

By the time it reached three, Astrid was tired, and wasn't feeling for much more of her weakness. "Thanks Hiccup." She finally pulled from his grip. "I honestly don't know what I'd do without you." She was feeling much lighter, but she wasn't over her initial sadness.

"Probably be missing a guitarist." He joked, spawning a giggle from Astrid, losing the remains of her sadness. "In any case..." Hiccup continued. "I'm not gonna send you back, it's obviously not good for you, so you want the couch or my bed, if you want, it serve you better then me, and I don't doubt that Toothless would add to the feeling of protection." Hiccup looked at her bag, and went on. "And since we have no school for this weekend, I think my dad wouldn't mind." Hiccup was now a bit nervous and had began rambling again, so Astrid simply touched his face to stop him and said "Thanks Hiccup, if you really don't mind." And shortly, she treaded upstairs with Hiccup, who warned Toothless about her and asked him to protect her. The eagle simply nodded.


Hiccup woke from the couch, hours after, his father still making no notes on the differences on the abnormal conditions for Hiccup, having left hours ago without a word. He was now eating cereal and watching some old shows, currently on an old Justice League episode. Soon Astrid came down, looking much better in Hiccup's opinion. "Sleep well?" As he took another bite. "Yeah, that was refreshing." He looked back to her, still noting the bruise on her eye, though way less obvious. "I was thinking of practicing a bit more, at Fish's, maybe seeing what he thinks of one or two of my songs." He told her, hoping she'd tag along. "If you'd like..." He trailed before she interrupted.

"Sure, hell, I've got a song or two to try." Astrid continued walking down to the couch, taking a seat. "Oh, Justice League, when tv shows were good." She smiled before leaning back in comfort.

An hour passed before both of them deciding to get changed, starting with Astrid. She went to Hiccup's room, putting on her usual attire that she had in a pack. As she sauntered down, Hiccup was already ready, guitar on his back, ready to leave the door. "Thanks again, Hiccup, for letting me stay, I really don't know where I'd be without you." He turned back from scratching Toothless. "Anytime, and...you wanted to practice without your bass?" He was wondering why she didn't bring it seeing as she packed almost everything else.

"I left it at Fish's, my dad hates me practicing that now, and it's better if my dad doesn't get his hands on it, had to replace too many of mine for his crap, he one time busted an entire piano I owned, all cause I was an hour late." Anger now flaring, before Hiccup touch her shoulder, calming her. "It doesn't matter now, your bass is safe, so you can relax."


The walk to Felix's made for interesting conversation, though mostly ordinary. They started talking on Astrid, mostly on comforting her, but eventually it became a discussion on improvements they could make, how life had been before they formed up, joking around and thus until they reached the target. Hiccup knocked on the door, waiting for Felix, still in his pajamas. "Oh right, I...uh forgot about our...uh, thing, I'll...um...setup...downstairs." The doorman rambled and stuttered for embarrassing himself. Then he noted Astrid behind him. "Oh, so this gonna be a band practice then?" Hiccup looked between them and replied. "Eh, kind of, I guess." He shrugged

After the group walked through the door, Felix went upstairs, Astrid and Hiccup went down and prepared it for a practice session. Then Hiccup plugged in and dropped a note book on one of the amps. "What's this?" Astrid picked up the book and scoured through it. "Nice sketches, didn't know you were an artist." As she flipped further through the book. "Yeah, I'm pretty good with my hands." He immediately realized what he said, mortified with embarrassment, he facepalmed with a deadpan while Astrid laughed at him. "Nice." Felix called down as he descended the stairs.

"So we gonna laugh at the hiccup or are we gonna play?" Hiccup asked with less confidence. "Lighten up, you've got some great stuff here, lyrics, riffs and progressions, sketches and blueprints, I knew you were smart, but this...you're like a genius." As she flicked a page with her hand. To say the least, she was obviously impressed. "Thanks. So you want to stand by and listen or plug in?" He asked, checking the tune on his guitar, though it was already set.

When they were all set, Hiccup started on trying to get them to do 'Everything I Hate About You' by Three Days Grace, without anyone singing. It didn't sound entirely right without a singer, but that didn't matter, they still had fun. Next, they moved to 'Lithium' and then Black Sabbath's Electric Funeral. They were purely testing out how well they could get a song, Astrid demanding it be perfected before moving on, Felix being too shy to speak at the slightly harsh regiment, though he barely minded anyway. And Hiccup was just having fun playing lead, Astrid bugged at him the least for most of the time he was doing well, though without a singer, every song sounded odd.

Hiccup soon decided it would be a good time to try doing something original, and ran his own lead away from the group. They all questioned him, making him play a simple rhythm to explain his idea, trying to get them to jump in. He had a plan for the lead, and more or less just hoped the other two got the gist of following along. It didn't take long, and while they started subpar to his desire, they caught along quickly. It wasn't very complex as a harmony, but his progression worked well enough. This gave him the smart idea to try a more refined section of his notes.

He stopped them and opened the book to some ideas, he knew enough about both bass and drums to get an idea along, hoping his mates would improve upon them. Soon after seeing the idea, his prediction was proven right, and improvements upon his base were made, and not long after, they started practicing an original song. When they finally finished, loving the sound, Hiccup was trying to get Astrid to follow the lyrics he'd written, asking here just as much if they were good. "Yeah, they're fine, but maybe you should try singing them so I get an idea first." Hiccup cringed a bit at the suggestion, he didn't believe he could sing. "No...no, um, I don't think...you'll like that." That left her at a disadvantage, it's hard to describe how to sing a section if their is no notes or example to follow. "You only have to do it once, and I won't laugh, it's not like we're gonna kick you for bad singing." The shy boy looked between her and the notebook, shifting his gaze continuously for a minute before deciding she was right, and having no choice, he began.

"When he left. Discovering a world." He sang, rising up on the second stanza until the last world.

"Beyond his eyes, He soon unfurled." The next line followed the first, but he moved down gradually this time.

"He was blinded. By the problems." Following similarly to the first two lines

"And soon was taken, In as thief." He sung lower.

"He couldn't say, Why he left." Matching the beginning lines closely.

"But he found, It wasn't his fault." He left the second line with barely a dynamic move

"And now he thinks," He ended the statement, stressing 'thinks' heavily, yet it could have passed for a whisper.

"He, is, alone." Now stressing every word, though most specifically 'is' before he caught himself. He hadn't designed the song in mind of any voice, it was a rather bland and static sound from his perspective. "Sorry" He spluttered.

Astrid however disagreed internally, on the static feel or his "bad" voice. She thought his voice was a nice Baritone voice, he could probably do that specific melody better than she could anyhow. "No, you have great voice. I mean, I don't think that is a song for my kind of vocals, why would you think you're bad?" She tilted her head in wonder as she asked. "My dad, doesn't like my singing, he doesn't tell me I suck, but it's probably implied." He looked shamefully downwards.

She tapped his shoulder to get his attention. "Its nothing to feel bad over, you sang it well, I'd prefer you to me trying it, I think." He looked at her in utter disbelief, he thought she'd only said that to raise his spirits. "I could hear the whole thing by the way, I agree with her." Felix butted in, from upstairs. Hiccup was utterly confused, his self-deprecating attitude embarrassing him. "I...don't feel comfortable with singing." Astrid shook her head, deciding against pushing hims directly, instead stating a slight variation on direct intervention. "Well I'm not gonna sing it, you deserve to, I'll wait on that one till you agree to." She wasn't letting him of easy. "And I won't sing anything you write until you do." She smiled. "You'll get comfy as a vocalist at some point, Haddock." He swallowed with a slight tremble, he hoped for getting comfortable soon.


Oh damn, didn't expect that...or maybe you did. Either way, That's complete.

Now, I'm sorry about the original lyrical part, I tried to do some basic good lyrics with both meaning and good description of sound, I'm not sure if it is there. Though if I can, I might try a small hand at writing some songs for this fic occasionally, I don't know if I'd do good, but if you'd like me to try, stating it in a review or pm would be great. (Singing might or might not be beyond my skills too, I have never really gotten an objective opinion on it, nor have I really tried, and like Hiccup, I'm a bit scared to)

Uh...I'm not really sure what to add to this AN, I mean all I can really say is my style might not be a very common type to see, either on FFN or in any other place, as even in original stories, I speed it, leaving out almost all non crucial details (which is in some ways, great, and in other ways, bad, but it works for me, and usually makes for a good flow...mostly)

That also means I occasionally jump things, I've tamed this ability mostly, but it seems every so often it slips.

Also this story is an experiment in many ways (from the rock band idea, to the falconry, to the style, and it is my first modern AU), so if anyone has anything to state about it, I'd like to refined and perfect this idea, so all comments on it would be helpful.

One more thing, I'm gonna start writing the songs I listen to while writing specific chapters, I think it's a good idea for some reason, I'll put it after the outro.

Anyway, thanks for reading, like a lot, and if you liked it, click those special buttons and fav and/or follow, and no matter your opinion, as long as you aren't mean, I'd like to hear your reviews, they really do mean a lot, and they really help. And as always, see you in the next chapter.

Chapter Songs:

Master of Puppets - Metallica

Run to the Hills, The Trooper - Iron Maiden

Dying Slowly, Blow Me Wide Open, Fairy Tale, Happy Tragedy, King of Nothing, Better Place - Saint Asonia